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GAME RECAP: Knicks 80, Nets 103

Knicks fans spent their Martin Luther King Day watching their team get dismantled by the Nets. Brooklyn looked like a team truly having turned the corner, while New York has me comparing their winning streak to something that happened during the Larry Brown season.

2006

2014

Five games this year instead of six, but the time of season, similar record, the crappiness heading into the streak and the crappiness coming out of the streak.

As of today, New York is exactly halfway through the season and they are 15-26.

At this point last season the Knicks were the opposite, 26-15, and they only lost 28 games the entire year.

New York looked like a broken team. The play was terrible and the body language was terrible… everything was terrible. The best I can describe how the Knicks played is that Brooklyn dictated the game on both sides of the court. They took away what New York wanted to do on the offensive end and when they had the ball were able to accomplish whatever they chose too.

The first time the two teams played, Brooklyn continually double teamed Melo and was slow in their rotations, which created open looks everywhere for New York. This time around, though, the Nets rotations were in-sync and didn’t allow the Knicks to get good shots, even when they initiated their offense with a pick-and-roll.

When the ball was forced out to the wing, the Nets easily contested jumpers because the pick-and-roll never generated a real threat. Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Ray Felton, Pablo Prigioni, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Andrea Bargnani weren’t able to create good shots for themselves or others on Brooklyn’s fast, but controlled closeouts.

One picture covers what the Knicks did defensively. Look at where all the shots were taken from by the Nets.

20 shots in the restricted area and 38 from three. 77% of the Nets 75 shots came from the areas on the court where they’re designed to come from and way too many of them were uncontested. Thanks to Keith (@OakleyandAllen), here’s a montage of those three point attempts for you to look at if you enjoy pain and suffering.

Anthony is the one redeeming factor left on this team. Coaches, players, front office and owner — everyone not named Carmelo Anthony involved with this organization is fully embarrassing themselves.

Through the first 41 games the most impressive accomplishment the Knicks have put together is the re-establishing of the definition for rock bottom.

I really hope this team finds a way to make the second 41 games less excruciating.